Bid opening for building improvements project yields one within budget

By MATTHEW BEATON / The News Herald

Published: Sunday, May 26, 2013 at 05:17 PM.

Anderson said he’s not just an expert in this type of work, he’s also a local and has formed plenty of strong business relationships with area subcontractors, which will make the project financially feasible.

“You’re not going to come in my backyard and get the prices I get (from subcontractors). That’s what it comes down to,” said the 30-year contracting veteran.

Anderson also has a history. He served as superintendent when the building was finished years earlier.

“So I’m very familiar with the building and it’s sort of neat for me to be able to go back and refurbish that old building,” he said.

Administrative services director Wendi Sellers said the project standards were not reduced to try to get bids within budget.

“We were confident that we could get more bids without changing the scope of work,” Sellers said.

She said several firms attended the county’s pre-bid meeting, which actually had an adverse affect. Plenty of them thought they had no shot at the contract, and didn’t submit a bid the first round, and the county received only two proposals. One was well under budget ($268,000), but the firm, Kolmetz Construction of Panama City, later withdrew it citing an error in a subcontractor’s quote.

PANAMA CITY — A day after the Bay County Commission rejected bids to improve the University of Florida Agriculture Extension building, a new batch of bids were opened and one was within budget.

The bids rejected Tuesday were all over-budget.

Five companies submitted proposals for the $343,940 project, and Anderson & Associates Construction Inc. of Panama City had the low bid, at $319,857. The company did not bid on the project during first round. The second closest bid was more than $100,000 higher, at $424,000.

The work will improve the structural integrity of the extension building, which was the old Cedar Grove City Hall, said Lavoy Anderson, president of Anderson & Associates. That will include removing its exterior walls and replacing them with half-inch plywood topped by a five-coat stucco system. Some of the roof trusses also will be replaced and others will be braced.

Though Anderson’s bid was significantly lower than his competition, he was confident the work could be done at that price.

“I specialize in remodeling and this kind of stuff scares folks,” he said.

Anderson said he’s not just an expert in this type of work, he’s also a local and has formed plenty of strong business relationships with area subcontractors, which will make the project financially feasible.

“You’re not going to come in my backyard and get the prices I get (from subcontractors). That’s what it comes down to,” said the 30-year contracting veteran.

Anderson also has a history. He served as superintendent when the building was finished years earlier.

“So I’m very familiar with the building and it’s sort of neat for me to be able to go back and refurbish that old building,” he said.

Administrative services director Wendi Sellers said the project standards were not reduced to try to get bids within budget.

“We were confident that we could get more bids without changing the scope of work,” Sellers said.

She said several firms attended the county’s pre-bid meeting, which actually had an adverse affect. Plenty of them thought they had no shot at the contract, and didn’t submit a bid the first round, and the county received only two proposals. One was well under budget ($268,000), but the firm, Kolmetz Construction of Panama City, later withdrew it citing an error in a subcontractor’s quote.

The County Commission still must approve the contract with Anderson & Associates. After that, the firm must get a “notice to proceed” and then it has 210 calendar days to complete the work, Sellers said

The money for the project came courtesy of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which doled it out to the state for the Disaster Recovery Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program. The county applied and received the $1.2 million grant in 2010.

The county is spending the grant on three projects: the UF building, an emergency warehouse for storing overflow hurricane supplies and structural improvements for the Salvation Army’s rental housing.

The emergency warehouse is nearly finished, but the county is still working to get a bid under budget for the Salvation Army project. On Tuesday, the commission also rejected four bids for the $468,000 Salvation Army project, which were all over-budget. The lowest bid was $614,867.